As 2020, moved slower and slower into Fall and Winter, then 2021.... I sorted through my stash of reproduction sampler kits and thought about the samplers which started my embroidery path. Seriously, I've been thinking of the bucket list items. To reduce anxiety... I watched ALL 40 seasons of 'Survivor', then, Startrek Discovery and Picard and if that wasn't enough, joined The Royal Oak to escape into the wonderful lectures they made available.....I culled through stitching related items and released many no longer wanted to Fireside Stitchery for their Ebay auctions (shockingly I made almost $400)....Visited over a dozen Frank Lloyd Wright sites..... and listened to many books on tape, all as I began stitching my newly designated 'need to complete' items.... After finishing the Black Bird sampler above, I wanted other simple/easy projects to 'just pick-up and not lose my place', while in bed listening to the latest Covid 19 news etc. in the evening and early morning.... While reorganizing probably four score (using that term so my hording sounds less crazy) kits, as I've done dozens of times in the past, I found pieces which reminded me of my friend Linda Hysler. In honor of Linda, I decided to stitch samplers of three teachers Linda loved best; Eileen Bennet, Darleen O'Steen and Joanne Harvey....
First, Eileen Bennett's 'Elizabeth Meadow' in miniature. This class was offered through my Kindred Spirits Sampler Guild in Michigan well over a decade ago. The Meadow sampler is the earliest of around a dozen known English samplers dating from 1691-1711 with ties to Iuda (Juda/Judith) Hayle and her school in Suffolk, UK. Much has been written on this group of samplers, which is not the scope of my discussion. Eileen's interpretation is on a 40 count linen stitched over one thread. Obviously, this version is a simplification of the original sampler, which made me consider decisions made of how to chart a reproduction sampler. I have eight reproduction sampler kits attributed to Iuda Hayle: Six from the Fitzwilliam Museum, one from the Abby Aldridge Folk Art Museum, and one from the Philadelphia Museum of Art. Several are chart/kit's from teachers I am familiar with, along with Eileen Bennett, Joanne Harvey and Margreit Hogue to name a few... I decided.... since Eileen's kit of the Meadow sampler swapped the schoolgirls name for each contemporary students, I could use my 'interpretation' of the famous verse below because a precedence was set.....
Deborah..... Stade Schoenek.... is my name and..... with my needle.... I wrought the.... same in memory... of Juda and her.... fame....DSS....EB (Eileen Bennett)....this sampeloar (sp)
In the cartouche I used EM (Elizabeth Meadow) and IH (Juda Hayle) in case someone in the future is wondering what it was originally attributed to.... I will attach a note in the back of the framed piece for documentation, my framed piece is depicted below.
Next, I stitched a Darleen O' Steen sampler titled 'The January Sampler' I purchased on Ebay several years ago. January is both my daughter and my birth month, plus it is much smaller than other sampler's enqueue on my bucket list. Darleen's samplers are new designs, which teach old techniques of European band samplers from the 16th-18th centuries. Darleen had been ill for sometime and passed in the Fall of 2020. This is also in memory of her, she will be missed by many embroiders. I believe 'The Proper Stitch', her must have book, is still available. My January sampler is below... just as Darleen interpreted the timeless motifs.
The last sampler group I finished brings me full circle to my long friendship with Linda. We both possessed a stamped version of 'The Chase', a 70's kit from Paragon, obtained from our Aunts. I additionally purchased Joanne Harvey's 2006 version in 2018 from the Craft House in Williamsburg. When Joanne originally taught the piece at the 'Just X Stitch Seminar' I was in a Merry Cox class so I decided I would only concern myself with the Paragon Kit. Almost a decade later, I just had to try Joanne's meticulous directions. It has delightfully become a wonderful learning experience. Joanne charts ALL errors that little Mary Starkey made in the original sampler. The 1970's paragon stamped design has all the little flaws corrected and sadly changed the rice, satin, queen and several other stitches into cross-stitch or a very simplified satin. This corrupt interpretation of the original is almost criminal..... I have to admit, I too corrected the right side of Joanne's kit where the original band is 'off' by a stitch and centered bands for symmetry. I'm sure this was something little Mary was bothered by every time she looked at her work, and I just couldn't bear leaving that flaw in my version. I also swapped the stamped Paragon kits' cotton Luster thread with Needlepoint Silk, this allowed my version to be completed with one strand rather than the 2-3 requested in the original kit. If anyone out there wants my Luster threads, contact me, you can have them! Joanne Harvey has blessed us with keeping 'errors' in her directions, allowing each embroiderer to decide her interpretation. Joanne is understandably appreciated in the area of reproduction samplers, for her incredible attention to details, however small..... My interpretation of Joanne's kit is below, minus the surface embroidery, which I'll get back to after I take a break.... I have invested almost 5 months of stitching into the two versions of this sampler! This past February 2022, while attending the Needles and Sins Seminar in Williamsburg, Mary Starkey's original sampler was removed to the Restoration Lab and our group was able to view the back, an extremely rare event. Understandably, I drove home from the event very carefully, thinking 'this is a very BIG closure item', which Linda may be blessing me with....I am very satisfied with my Needlepoint silk thread choice, Mary's original is very delicate, a lighter touch is a better match....
Linda's family kindly sent me her unfinished Paragon piece. Linda displayed her Aunts finished piece in her home and I enjoyed seeing it. I would comment to Linda, "we need to finish ours", when visiting. That wonderful sampler has stayed with Linda's family. Originally I thought, I would finish Linda's for her.... but have decided to frame it, along side both my finished Paragon piece and my finished Joanne Harvey 2006 version. I have never found any of my Aunts Paragon samplers, which may still be in attics of homes in Macomb County Michigan. Aunt Jean stitched them for a friend, who gave them to customers of their Victorian home restoration business.... I remember my Aunt's comment that she was paid $50 for each one she finished... probably 10 cents/hour.. This past year has been a wonderful journey for me, which many have taken, due to a much loved sampler little Mary Starkey completed centuries ago. It has influenced so many memories, touching the lives of six women in my bubble.... Linda and my Paragon pieces are pictured below....I did, however, add the following to Linda's sampler, her name and birth date and the date 'she parked her needle'. Four more items I can confidently cross off my extensive bucket list.... more detailed images below...
Now, well into 2022, I have followed up with finishing the interior of 4 folk art painted boxes of Elsie Di Cassio (to store my Au Ver A Soie silk and metal threads) and three hat boxes to fill with Dr. Nguyen's finished petite projects. I had these items with the finishing silks in two 2 x 2 x 3 foot storage containers now repurposed. Matching the folk-art motif are three Ellen Chester kits from my stash... A huswife, a thread pallet storage book and an actual stitched book of Alphabets which is assembled as book signatures (a bookbinding adaption). All finished, giving me a great feeling of accomplishment.... yeah me!!
